By my Side
by Konoha's Black Dragon
Summary: When all you long for is is someone to stand by your side.


I got up, walked to the mouth of the cave, stood there, and watched the rain come down…

It's been raining for three days; they attacked again two days ago. Since then, we the Rookie Nine have been either scattered, killed, or captured. Not to mention our lines have been shattered.

We don't know who they are, or where they came from, but it is believed that they somehow came across the 'impassible' mountains to the south of the Land of Fire. Although, there's no evidence other than that we are fighting for our very existence in the southern reaches in the Land of Fire.

I turned and looked back into the cave as I heard Hinata moan in pain. Her feverish form lay beneath a few blankets that I had stored in a seal, who knows how long ago… Beside her was a sputtering fire, the wood not burning well as it hadn't had time to dry before I'd lit it, a small miracle was that it was burning now! I walked over to her, taking the dry cloth off of her forehead and walking back over to the mouth of the cave. I reached out, letting the fabric soak in the rain, before I walked back over to Hinata and placing it on her forehead. I sat back on my heels I looked down at her.

Most would call her beautiful. Pale skin set off by her midnight hair, high cheekbones, and proud but kind mouth, her body was one of strength but also of feminine beauty, a large bust, slim form, and rounded butt, her lavender eyes are without pupils because of her bloodline.

Her appearance the extreme opposite of the spectrum from mine. My frame was hardened by years of hard work and poor food when there was any, skin the color of bronze from training under the sun, hair a golden shade of blond whereas her's was almost blue, it was so black! My eyes are blue… Then there was the obvious fact that I was a guy and she was a girl.

Her attitude was the opposite off mine as well. She is soft spoken while I'm very out spoken, everyone knows what I think and how I feel; if I don't like you I'm as likely to slug you as tell you so. On the contrary Hinata is kind and polite to everyone, she's very timid and rarely puts herself forwards. However, I don't think there is a single person in the village that doesn't know of my dream of becoming Hokage, and can repeat that dream the exact way I said it as well.

I sighed; sitting down by her and looking out into the rain as one of my clones brought in some more wood, setting it close to the fire so it could dry off before it was burned. I had dozens of other clones out, searching for the rest of my friends, as I sat there with Hinata, praying that my friends would be alright. Some I already knew were dead; Kiba and Akamaru had both died, fighting beside Hinata. My clones getting there as Kiba was struck down, barley able to save Hinata, Sasuke was also dead. I don't know how he died, my clones having stumbled across his body in the woods. Their deaths I'd reported to high command through my Toad summons. It was those of my friends that I hadn't found that I worried about… Ino, the mind reading girl who loves flowers; Shino, the quiet boy who fights ferociously if his friends are threatened; Sakura, the pink haired girl who I had a crush on during our academy days and for a couple years afterwards; Shikamaru, the lazy genius of our class; Choji, the only person who could challenge me to an eating contest and have hope to win; Neji, an ass yes, but a loyal one; Tenten, a girl who's rather proud, but has enough skill to carry the rank of Chunin with pride; and Lee, the only one that can't use chakra who is a ninja, to make up for the lack of chakra he pushes himself with an almost self-destructive manner. Never saying that he's done enough, even running himself to sleep, and even then he keeps on running in his sleep…

I shook my head at that image, one that isn't that uncommon to see.

Despite my concern for the rest of my friends the primary search was for Sakura, the only one of us who had any medical skill besides Hinata, and the only one to be trained as a medic ninja.

I rose and started pacing across the sand floor as another bunch of clones were dispelled by a fight with the enemy. Hinata didn't have much longer to live without treatment. I stopped and looked out into the rain. A rather deep rut was worn into the ground where I was pacing…

_Will she die because of my indecision?_

I shook my head clear of those thoughts, no, if it came down to it, I'll do it. I won't let Hinata die; I'll just pray for forgiveness afterwards. Pray for her forgiveness for turning her into a demon like myself…

I lay down on the floor of the cave near Hinata, going to sleep after creating a pair of clones to keep watch, hoping that the morning would bring better times.

I awoke just a few minutes after dawn as Sakura was escorted through the mouth of the cave by two of my clones. I jumped up and hugged her, which she surprisingly permitted. I broke away and took in her appearance, and to sum it up in a word, I would need something beyond 'haggard'. Her hair was a mess, with lots of debris in it; cuts splashed her body and clothing, with dried blood strewn across her person.

"Do you have enough energy to look at Hinata? She's really bad…"

Sakura's eyes widened with surprise, but nodded and kneeled down next to Hinata's sleeping form. When she pulled aside the blanked she shot me a look that said she would painfully murder me later, before putting her hands over Hinata's stomach, shortly afterwards her hands glowed green for some amount near ten seconds, before she placed her hands in her lap, and tears started falling down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry, but I can't heal her, maybe if I had been there when she had gotten these wounds, but not now. It's amazing that she lasted this long."

My heart filled with fear that I might have caused Hinata's death unintentionally, before my mind set on what must be done to heal Hinata.

"There's a pool in the back of the cave that you can bathe in if you wish, please don't come back until I call for you though."

She gave me a look but didn't question me as she stood and headed deeper into the cave. I knelt down beside Hinata and started undoing the bandages, blushing as her body was uncovered before me. I pulled out my kunai and reopened her wounds before cutting my tongue and passing my bleeding tongue over all of her injuries, effectively mixing our blood around her wounds. Then I sat back and watched the demon blood take effect. I sighed as I remembered where I had acquired this ability.

It was shortly after my sixth birthday, the sixth anniversary of the defeat of the Kyuubi, and the death of the beloved Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze. My classmates and I were later told that the Fourth had died killing the Kyuubi, but that was a lie. No one is strong enough to kill a Biju, not even the Sage of Six Paths himself. The Fourth gave his life to seal the demon inside of me, creating a Jinchuriki in me.

That night, a group of people got together and beat me saying that they were "Finishing the work of the Fourth." I lay there after they had left, bleeding badly and wracked with insane amounts of pain as they had seen to it to break most of the bones in my body. When I had first seen the fox by my head I was hallucinating with pain and thought that the Shinigami was a fox. I cried out to it for mercy and it looked down on me with a look in its eyes that even today I couldn't tell you what it was feeling. With a wave of its tail my clothes disappeared. It then lowered its head to its front right paw and slashed its tongue open, before sliding its bloody tongue over my wounds. As the pain disappeared I fell unconscious, remembering only a vague sensation of soft golden hair, an open window allowing a cooling breeze in with the soft rays of sunlight, as some relaxing music in the background. I woke up in my apartment. After that event, all my wounds close up amazingly fast, sometimes healing in just an hour wounds that take most people days to recover from.

As she started to move about in signs of waking up I covered her up with the blanket, slightly embarrassed and mad at myself that I had left her unclothed in my sight while she couldn't say no. I looked out into the rain, staring off into the distance when I heard her voice.

"Naruto-kun?" Her voice weak and slightly confused.

"Yes?"

"What happened?"

"You were badly injured while fighting and have been unconscious for a day before I found Sakura-chan and she reported that you were about to die."

Her eyes clouded over with confusion here.

"So I used, in effect, a forbidden technique to heal you, giving you some of the demon blood that runs through my veins."

I told her straight, not blemishing anything, for that wasn't my nature.

"Naruto, you're not-" she started protesting my declaration, but I interrupted her.

"I am, but not by being a Jinchuriki." I told her the story of the fox demon that I met and she calmed down.

I trusted her. I don't know why I do to such a degree, but I do. She is the only one of our class who I told of my burden. Maybe Shikamaru knows, but I didn't tell him. And after Hinata told me she can't see the Kyuubi's chakra until I start using it, I'm pretty sure Neji doesn't know. No one else knows of my generation.

She lay beneath the blankets, just staring at the roof of the cave so I got up and walked to the mouth of the cave, just staring out into the rain, half feeling like going out into it and letting it wash the world away. I jumped when I felt a pair of arms wrap around me.

"Don't go and do anything crazy now, please."

The worry in her voice startled me; it rattled me to the core.

_Does she like me? Love me?_

"Hinata…" I couldn't ask.. I didn't dare. "Do you have anything one?"

"No."

I could see her blush in my mind's eye, a deep scarlet that bled off her face and ran down her neck as it seeped into the skin by her ears.

"Naruto-kun… wh- where's my clothes at?" It sounded like she intended to ask something else at first….

In all honesty I hadn't been expecting that question, not that I knew what I had been expecting, but it most certainly wasn't that, so there was an awkward moment of silence while I restarted my brain and remembered where I had put them.

"Over by my bag, there's not much of your jacket left as I had to cut it away from your body, but the rest of your clothes should be fine."

I heard the padding of her feet as she walked across the cave floor, it was then that a great temptation rose in me to turn and look at her, but I squashed it. I just couldn't do that to Hinata, there was something about her that made me hold her above the other girls I knew, most of whom I would have peeked on right there.

Her voice startled me when she told me that she was done dressing. As I turned I was again surprised slightly by what she wore under her jacket, despite that I had seen it when I dressed her wounds, it looked damn good on her though. I guess it was a type of work out top, only coming down to the bottom of her ribs and showed off her bust rather nicely, it's dark fabric popping out against her pale skin and the sparkling of the piercing she had in her bellybutton, a small chain of silver set with small diamonds. The top was sleeveless, showing off her smooth upper arms, and the tattoos that they bore. Her right arm depicted a woman dressed in battle gear, complete with armor and spear, while on her left arm there was another woman dressed in a flowing gown, she held a book in her left hand yet she had her right hand held up, palm out, as if she were motioning someone to stop.

"You tended my wounds didn't you."

It wasn't so much a question as a fact the way she spoke. I merely nodded.

"So you saw my body, didn't you…"

Again, the way she said it wasn't the manner of a question, and I had, so again I nodded, blushing slightly at the memory of her body that flashed before my eyes.

"Did you like what you saw?"

Now, that _**was **_a question and sadly one I had to answer after my hormones got done… I instantly flushed and started stuttering as I tried to apologies only to have Hinata place her finger on my lips and shush me. Her blush darkened as she whispered out,

"I'm glad."

I was floored by that, first woman who ever told me she was glad I liked how her body looked naked... I tuned back into the conversation when she started talking, not that I caught what she said, and she noticed it. She raised an eyebrow at me as if admonishing, but said nothing.

"Did you sew up the holes in my clothes?"

I nodded.

"You did a good job."

There was surprise in her voice. I merely shrugged; it was something that one had to learn if they lived on their own without much money.

After she praised me, she turned and looked out into the rain, and the silence stretched on, a moderate blush adorning her cheeks, probably from the idea of me knowing her body that well. I couldn't take it anymore so I broke the silence to ask something that had been bugging me since she had awoken.

"Do you have a Genjutsu up?"

I had always sucked at finding Genjutsu, and sucked even more so at casting them, but once I realized that I was under a Genjutsu it was so easy to dispel it. However, she hadn't shown the signs of the demon blood, which was a shock to me as I had grown a set of fox ears and a tail to match upon receiving the blood, my suspicions were confirmed when she looked at me in surprise. The blush increased as she held up her hands in the ram sign and dispelled it.

The foxy bits that I had received she had gotten as well, a pair of fox ears and a tail, midnight black, her ears blending in with her hair. I blushed when I saw them for they made her look so beautiful.

"You most certainly pull off that look better than I do."

Her eyes widened in surprise when I said that.

"You have a tail too? Why can't I see it with my Byuakugan?"

I shrugged in response.

"After a while you will learn to make it disappear into your body, the same with the ears."

It had taken me two weeks during which I had hidden in the forest. Hinata should be able to learn to hide them sooner as she was so much better at manipulating her chakra than I am, and my control has grown in leaps and bounds since then.

"Can I see it?"

Her face had a light blush on it and she had fallen into that old habit of pressing her forefingers together.

I blinked a moment, wondering why I hadn't thought of her wanting to see me with the same features that she now possessed. I sighed and held up my hands in the ram sign, concentrating…

Growing something from your body is one of the most bizarre feelings ever. It hurts and at the same time is one of the most comfortable things that you will ever feel. It itches at the same time it feels so soothing. It only took a few seconds for me to have out my fox features, both tail and ears where the same color as my hair, with a stain of white on the tip of my tail. Her blush deepened when she saw them.

"I… don't know about that Naruto-kun."

I looked down at myself, not seeing whatever she did. I was nothing special. She however was a work of art, strong and beautiful, kind and intelligent, everything that a man could want. I looked up at her to see her hug herself. I felt like a jerk when I noticed that the draft was cold from the rain. I unzipped my jacket and draped it across her shoulders.

"That better?"

She had a shy blush on her face, capped off with a slight smile as she nodded, pulling the sides close to her body.

"Thank you Naruto-kun."

The silence stretched out again, I didn't know what to say.

"HINATA! YOU'RE ALIVE!"

Sakura's voice was like an explosion in the night, unexpected and unwelcomed. I think Hinata felt the same way as I did as a flash of annoyance whipped across her face, only to be quickly subdued as she turned to face Sakura and was swept up in an enthusiastic hug.

"I'm so glad you're alright, I thought for sure that you were a goner when I got here. How did you get better so fast?"

Sakura released her, backing up a step to look at her, turning her head to look at me when she noticed Hinata was looking at me. I shook my head, not interested in telling her what had transpired. She looked back at Hinata, then back at me, her smile fading into a confused frown.

"What happened?"

Again the silence stretched on this time with a rebellious feel rather than just a moment of barely concealed tension.

"Hinata, there are some pools in the back if you wish to bathe; the water is rather cool to the touch though…"

I ignored Sakura's inquiry, it wasn't something I wished to answer, and Hinata understood that. Much to my relief… Hinata nodded her thanks to me, ignoring Sakura as she walked out, leaving Sakura and me standing face to face in silence.

"What did you do?" Her face had lost its cheery countenance and she looked at me, demanding an answer, one that I refused to give to her. We stood there in silence for a moment before Hinta's voice entered my ears.

"Um… Naruto-kun… would you… bathe with me…"

Both Sakura and I turned and looked at her as she stood there at the bend in the cave. Her face was flushed a deep crimson and she was pressing her forefingers together.

"Ummm…." She seemed almost ready to take back her offer from the awkwardness of the silence. I was torn on the one hand I wanted to say yes, after all, how often does one get an invite from a hot girl to bathe with them; but on the other there is Sakura and her notorious anger…

"Hinata, what are you thi-" Sakura was then cut off by Hinata, something I never expected to witness… ever.

"SHUT UP! I wasn't asking you now, was I? No, I wasn't, nor was I asking you for your opinion on the matter. So do everyone a favor and shut up!"

I was still in shock from the outburst when Hinata grabbed my wrist and dragged me with her as she stormed back deeper in the cave. I did hear Sakura mutter to herself,

"Did they have tails?"

Hinata didn't stop until she got to the cavern where the pools were. The ceiling opened up and was about 50 feet over our heads at the tallest point in the room which was around 30 feet wide and 50 long. Out of the ceiling was a small waterfall which fell on a flat rock, splashing a wide area that drained off into a shallow pool which, in turn, had a small spill way that drained into a deeper pool at the back of the cavern, which disappeared into a hole in the wall. I heard Hinata quietly mutter the name of her Doujutsu and I realized that I hadn't taught her how to use the demon blood to its full advantages.

"Hianta, deactivate your Byukugan."

She looked at me in confusion, turned and faced me and walked over me.

"Why?"

"There is something I want to teach you."

She looked at my face for a second before obeying my instruction. I gently placed my hands over her face, my palms over her cheeks, my thumbs following her nose up to her eyebrows and my fingers splayed out around her ears, burying themselves into her hair. She looked at me between my fingers for a moment longer before closing her eyes, and I followed suit, closing my eyes as I concentrated on my chakra. Gently I pushed it out of my hands and into her skin, she gasped at the sensation of my chakra invading her being. I soaked her skin in my chakra before pushing deeper into her being, finding her chakra pathways and coaxing her chakra to follow mine. I pulled it, teased it into her eyes and made it act in a particular way. I stood there making sure her chakra was behaving how I wished it would before pulling my chakra back into my person, moving my hands away from her face. Feeling my hands leave she opened her eyes and gasped. Whirling around with her eyes open she looked around her at the cavern. She turned to look at me and wrapped me in a hug, which I hesitantly returned.

After a moment she pulled her head out of my chest and looked me in the eye, searching my eyes.

"Why? Why did you save me? Why did you give me this gift?"

I was struck by her choice of using the word 'gift' for the demon blood.

"It's not like I could just stand by and let you die…. And besides, this world is lonely, and I stand against so many enemies. My back is a large target and I was hoping that you would stand beside me and protect my back while I... protect yours….."

My voice trailed off and I looked to the side, not able to bear looking and seeing the rejection in her eyes.

"Of course I would."

I whipped my head around and stared wide eyed into her eyes. There was an emotion in her eyes and there was a faint blush on her face.

"I would love to stand by your side Naruto-kun."

She leaned closer and pressed her lips to mine in a chaste kiss, then pulled back and looked into my eyes. I stared back for a moment before leaning forward myself and pulling her into a kiss.

* * *

First of all I would like to thank Girl-in-the-tiger-kimono for editing

Second, I ask you the reader to tell me your thoughts, likes, dislikes.


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